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$40.00 NZD

*The Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller*
Rose Tremain grew up in post-war London, a city of grey austerity, still partly in ruins, where both food and affection were fiercely rationed. The girl known then as 'Rosie' and her sister Jo spent their days longing for their grandparents' farm, buried deep in th
e Hampshire countryside, a green paradise of feasts and freedom, where they could at last roam and dream.
But when Rosie is ten years old, everything changes. She and Jo lose their father, their London house, their school, their friends, and -- most agonisingly of all -- their beloved Nanny, Vera, the only adult to have shown them real love and affection.
Briskly dispatched to a freezing boarding-school in Hertfordshire, they once again feel like imprisoned castaways. But slowly the teenage Rosie escapes from the cold world of the Fifties, into a place of inspiration and mischief, of loving friendships and dedicated teachers, where a young writer is suddenly ready to be born....Show more

$20.00 NZD

Andris, Where Are You? tells the family story of renowned New Zealand photographer Andris Apse, who when middle aged, discovered that his father Voldemars, believed to be dead for 40 years, was still alive in Latvia. Told largely through insightful pre-war diary entries by Voldemars Apse, as well as cor
respondence between Voldemars and his wife Kamilla, both before and during the war, this book describes the horrendous effects of war and the Soviet and German occupation on an ordinary rural Latvian family. For years after the war Kamilla and her baby Andris lived in West Germany in a refugee camp, but came to understand that Voldemars had died in the war, or in the Soviet gulag prison camps. Consequently, Kamilla and five-year-old Andris emigrated to New Zealand as refugees. Over time Andris became one of New Zealand’s most successful landscape photographers, and raised his own family. Following the breakdown of the Soviet Union, Kamilla and Andris miraculously discovered that Voldemars was still alive in Latvia. Andris arranged to take Kamilla, who was now in her seventies, back to Latvia. When they reunited in Riga, husband met wife, and son met father for the first time in over 40 years. This story of heart-rending separation and joyful rediscovery will touch a chord with all parents and everyone with a sense of history and the importance of family. Andris’s remarkable tale was first published as a large format photographic book, which was serialised by National Radio, and his life and photography has also featured in a 2010 TVNZ documentary ‘Through My Eyes’....Show more

$33.00 NZD

When a love story becomes a carer’s anguish They first met when Helene was 18 years old. Together for nearly 40 years, this is the story of their relationship through Peter’s intense last four years involving 24/7 care, the impact of a horrible illness and a shameful and ad hoc health system
. It aims to give a voice to isolated and exploited carers, especially those in private homes, and to expose fundamental issues about humanity and failed systems. It calls for and it calls a Royal Commission inquiry and a ‘bipartisan’ Parliamentary response to produce viable solutions....Show more

$40.00 NZD

Jordan Peterson's work as a clinical psychologist has reshaped the modern understanding of personality, and now he has become one of the world's most popular public thinkers, with his lectures on topics ranging from the Bible to romantic relationships drawing tens of millions of viewers. In an era of po
larizing politics, echo chambers and trigger warnings, his startling message about the value of personal responsibility and the dangers of ideology has resonated around the world. In this book, he combines ancient wisdom with decades of experience to provide twelve profound and challenging principles for how to live a meaningful life, from setting your house in order before criticising others to comparing yourself to who you were yesterday, not someone else today. Gripping, thought-provoking and deeply rewarding, 12 Rules for Lifeoffers an antidote to the chaos in our lives- eternal truths applied to our modern problems....Show more

$45.00 NZD

"This biography of Tariana Turia sees family members, iwi leaders, social justice advocates and politicians share their experiences of this remarkable woman. While parliament was not originally part of her life plan, Tariana Turia was involved in many community initiatives. A turning point came in 1995,
when Tariana's leadership was evident in the reoccupation of Pakaitore. Here was a woman with the courage to care, the determination to speak up and a deep commitment to whānau. Inevitably, she was invited to stand in the 1996 general election. In her eighteen years as an MP, she advanced thinking in the disability area, advocated for tobacco reform and spoke out about sexual abuse, violence and racism. She also led the Whānau Ora initiative. In 2004, she crossed the floor, leading to the birth of the Māori Party"--Publisher information....Show more

$38.00 NZD

Renee was born grumpy (Ngati Kahungunu/Scot) and nothing has changed. She is an avid and faithful reader, who enjoys cooking and gardening. Everyone, she says, should grow leafy greens. Renee always thought she would die at forty-two but for some reason this didn't happen. She considers herself very luc
ky to still have most of her marbles, and credits reading, writing, walking and teaching for this. She has written eight novels and eighteen plays, among which Wednesday To Come is probably her most loved work. Iris: I remember when Dad died we stayed up all night. About one in the morning Mum made scones. Crazy the things you do. Ted: Like singing round a coffin? Iris: Hang around Ted - that's just the start. Renee lives in Otaki and teaches her Your Life, Your Story and her Poem a Week workshops there. This is just one version of her life, her story, told in patches, like a quilt....Show more

$37.00 NZD

From the author of the best-selling "A Venetian Affair," here is the charming chronicle of his search for the identity of a mysterious old rose. Andrea di Robilant's tale takes us back to the time of Josephine Bonaparte, as well as into some of the most delightful rose gardens in Italy today, brought to
colorful life on the page in the watercolors of artist Nina Fuga. In his 2008 biography of the Venetian lady Lucia Mocenigo (his great-great-great-great- grandmother), di Robilant described a pink rose that grows wild on the family's former country estate, mentioning its light peach-and-raspberry scent. This passing detail led to an invitation for an audience with a local rose doyenne, Eleonora Garlant. She and other experts wondered if di Robilant's unnamed rose could possibly be one of the long-lost China varieties that nineteenth-century European growers had cultivated but which have since disappeared. On the hunt for the identity of his anonymous yet quietly distinctive rose, Di Robilant finds himself captivated by roseophiles through time--from Lucia and her friend Josephine Bonaparte to the gifted Eleonora, whose garden of nearly fifteen hundred varieties of old roses is one of the most significant in Europe--and by the roses themselves, each of which has a tale to tell. What starts out as a lighthearted quest becomes a meaningful journey as di Robilant contemplates the enduring beauty of what is passed down to us in a rose, through both the generosity of nature and the cultivating hand of human beings, who for centuries have embraced and extended the life of this mysterious flower....Show more

$55.00 NZD

Joe and Rose Kennedy's strikingly beautiful daughter Rosemary attended exclusive schools, was presented as a debutante to the Queen of England, and travelled the world with her high-spirited sisters. And yet, Rosemary was intellectually disabled, a secret fiercely guarded by her powerful and glamorous f
amily. Major new sources - Rose Kennedy's diaries and correspondence, school and doctors' letters, and exclusive family interviews bring Rosemary alive as a girl adored but left far behind by her competitive siblings. Kate Larson reveals both the sensitive care Rose and Joe gave to Rosemary and then as the family's standing reached an apex, the often desperate and duplicitous arrangements the Kennedys made to keep her away from home as she became increasingly intractable in her early twenties. Finally, Larson illuminates Joe's decision to have Rosemary Iobotomized at age twenty-three, and the family's complicity in keeping the secret. Rosemary delivers a profoundly moving coda: JFK visited Rosemary for the first time while campaigning in the Midwest; she had been living isolated in a Wisconsin institution for nearly twenty years. Only then did the siblings understand what had happened to Rosemary and bring her home for loving family visits. It was a reckoning that inspired them to direct attention to the plight of the disabled, transforming the lives of millions....Show more

$30.00 NZD

Evie Mahoney is a CODA, a Child Of Deaf Adults, raised in Auckland, New Zealand. She is the eldest of six hearing children. Being first born her early life was mainly in a deaf environment and she was sensitive to how hearing people outside that environment reacted to her family. She lived on the edge b
etween the two cultures and naturally slipped into the role of interpreter, from a young age, ensuring the Deaf and Hearing understood each other when communicating. While she learnt the values of her deaf parents with their perception of the mainstream hearing world, she also learnt the different values of the hearing world that she belonged to. Six decades later Evie is happy to have been raised by inspiring parents and enjoys the special dimension the deaf culture has given her. She has seen communication become easier for the Deaf with New Zealand Sign Language now being an official language and becoming a more accepted form of communication. Modern technology is also providing visual communication options for the Deaf. Nevertheless, Evie sees attitudes of the Hearing towards the Deaf still having a long way to go....Show more

$35.00 NZD

Funny, warm and caring, Mary Brennan talks openly about her ordinary Kiwi upbringing and life experiences, which ultimately led to her owning New Zealand¿s biggest high-end, appointment-only, full-service salon in Wellington. Now a key go-to person for commentary on the New Zealand sex industry, Mary ha
s seen it all, and in Some Kind of Fantasy she demystifies for readers what is, essentially, her day job....Show more

$28.00 NZD

"South African born Elon Musk is the renowned entrepreneur and innovator behind PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity. Musk wants to save our planet; he wants to send citizens into space, to form a colony on Mars; he wants to make money while doing these things; and he wants us all to know about it. He i
s the real-life inspiration for the Iron Manseries of films starring Robert Downey Junior. The personal tale of Musk's life comes with all the trappings one associates with a great, drama-filled story. He was a freakishly bright kid who was bullied brutally at school, and abused by his father. In the midst of these rough conditions, and the violence of apartheid South Africa, Musk still thrived academically and attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he paid his own way through school by turning his house into a club and throwing massive parties. He started a pair of huge dot-com successes, including PayPal, which eBay acquired for $1.5 billion in 2002. Musk was forced out as CEO and so began his lost years in which he decided to go it alone and baffled friends by investing his fortune in rockets and electric cars. Meanwhile Musk's marriage disintegrated as his technological obsessions took over his life ... Elon Musk is the Steve Jobs of the present and the future, and for the past twelve months, he has been shadowed by tech reporter, Ashlee Vance. Elon Musk- How the Billionaire CEO of Spacex and Tesla is Shaping our Future is an important, exciting and intelligent account of the real-life Iron Man."...Show more

$35.00 NZD

Having survived a brush with cancer, Helen Brown, happily married with three grown children, took stock of her comfortable suburban life and found it wanting. So when she was invited to visit New York, the city that never sleeps, she seized the day and accepted. Perhaps, she mused, she might never retur
n.There was a catch, however: would she foster a homeless cat during her stay? Visualising a dozy, sweet-natured snuggler with a name like Mavis, Helen agreed. But the cat she met in the Manhattan shelter was anything but dozy. Instead, Bono, as he was called, was wide-eyed and unpredictable, a bundle of nervous energy with a feisty attitude and punk haircut to boot.After a shaky start, Helen and Bono began to get to know each other. And, as winter turned to spring, cat and woman explored new beginnings and past heartache, only to discover that, in the end, home is where the heart is, wherever that may be....Show more